Klara Prast
"Just because they're prisoners doesn't mean they can't look pretty." Klara Prast is a strange girl who dresses in rather old clothes and seems to be rather conservative who enjoys talking to flowers. As a member of the Runaways, Klara (aka Rose Red) is constantly on the move with the team, and can talk to and control plants. While the team does not hide the fact that she is from the past and her behavior is peculiar enough for it to be easily noticeable, few do know of her exact origins. Background Born in Bern, Switzerland, in the early part of the 20th Century, Klara was born to a rural family that was heavily religious. Growing up on a farm, Klara was homeschooled and otherwise had a normal rural lifestyle for the era. Her parents were very conservative, and her father was not a nice man, who threatened her from a young age for even the slightest failings. From a young age Klara was different. She could speak to plants, and the plants spoke back. When she was young her parents thought it was just a child's game, until Klara showed she could make the plants do things - like crops changing when she asked, and flowers blooming in her passage. Her mother thought it was a form of witchcraft. Klara was sent to the United States, and to New York City, to be 'cleaned' and was virtually disowned from her family from a young age as an unwanted immigrant. In New York City, Klara 'worked' for a man named Mister Prast, who was in reality her husband, with Klara essentially sold to him by her mother for fear of Klara's gifts. He hated her and thought what she did was freakish, and made her work long hours in his unsafe sweatshop. From her time there, Klara saw the good and bad in the immigrant communities toiling under conditions almost akin to slave labor. It was not a good time, but she would always have her friends the flowers to help keep her upbeat. She was known as a 'wonder' - an early term for those who had powers in the early 20th century. One day, a fire broke out in the sweatshop - this wasn't unusual. Working conditions were unsafe and dangerous. What was unusual was that people tried to save them; in this case, the time lost Runaways who used their powers to help evacuate the sweatshop as it burned down. Klara used her powers to help, making plants grow out of the woodwork to help smother the fire and hold open the collapsing building for people to escape through. The Runaways noted her and approached her. Confused by the strange, new people she met, Klara ran away from them after a short conversation. Over the next couple of days, Klara encountered the team multiple times. Confused and scared of them, but also seeing they were good people, they offered Klara a place with them and to come back to the future. Initially hesitant, after one more beating from her adoptive father Klara wished to escape and go back to the future with them. In the modern age, things were scary. People with powers were common. Klara arrived shortly after the merge of the worlds, when the heroes were adjusting to the new combination of reality. The Runaways initially were helping to keep Los Angeles safe after this, and it was confusing for Klara to learn about the future. Multiple member sof the Runaways went off to spend time at Avengers Academy during this time, so the team would often go back and forth visiting their friends there and going around having adventures in the Leapfrog, so they were constantly mobile. Klara always had friends, but life was confusing for her. She was amazing at video games, and best friends with Molly. But the modern age was still scary. At several points, when she got overwhelmed her powers would go out of control and threaten things, and Klara still couldn't quite always get them under control. Modern cities were big and weird and not safe. There weren't enough green things. So she still wasn't quite sure where she fit in with things. Or how to go back. Or having anywhere to go back to. So she was with the Runaways. Always running along and into things. Personality Klara is from the early 1900's, and her life and viewpoints reflect this. She often comes off as very conservative, at least based upon the values of the modern age and can be quite shocked at modern sensibilities. While progressive for her time, Klara's experiences still are based around a different era, so she will often come off as both conservative and naive particularly with the rambunctious and freestyle nature of her companions. Klara is trying very hard to adapt, but she's got nearly a century of things to catch up on and she's doing so while she's on the run, so it's somewhat slow going. Klara is very superstitious, believing that her powers come from a form of sorcery. While she is not particularly religious, she does not think that her powers are themselves a curse or a blessing, they are merely a thing. But she is prone to rituals and things which she believes will bring her luck in a childish sort of way (step on a crack and break your mother's back, break a mirror and seven years bad luck). Her experiences have shown her that people can fear her for what she is and what she can do, but people can do evil things who do not have powers as well. Klara tries her best to control her emotions over and her reactions to things, since she hates being confused. This is also a result of her upbringing and her shock at her arrival in the future. It is also from the abuse she took from her father, which made her very introverted. She is loyal to her friends, but when she is confused she is just as likely to tighten up and withdraw into herself as she is to react, and in her confusion, particularly with the modern world, she can on occasion lash out at things. Logs *2015-11-06 - Blueberries and Forgiveness - A pie-eating contest turns into something more serious. *2016-10-31 - Bad Ending - Dracula attacks, on Halloween. Not everyone gets away this time. Gallery Category:Marvel Feature Category:Marvel Hero Category:New York City Category:Marvel Taken